X-Factor / Jack Houghton / 23 October 2010 / 1

Jack Houghton looks back on another week of X Factor headlines, sifts through the wreckage and find this week's bets

For two years they've clashed over the X Factor. In 2008, Mike Norman prevailed. In 2009, Jack Houghton made it honours even. Norman's claims of foul-play last year sparked a brawl at the betting.betfair Christmas party. To avoid a repeat performance, the editors have decided to formalise things this year. Each armed with a £1,000 and their We-Love-You-Simon badges, Mike Norman and Jack Houghton go head-to-head - tipping their way to a Christmas number one."

It's official - Simon Cowell is not gay. So says fellow X Factor judge Louis Walsh. And he is gay. So he should know. Look at what Louis told the Daily Mail: "He's not gay. Not. At. All. He's camp and he's available -- maybe I don't mean available. He's theatrical. But he's absolutely not gay. No way."

So he's gay then. Not, of course, that it would matter one iota to the broad-minded, happy-go-lucky readers of the Daily Mail - a paper that has been on fire with X Factor revelations of late. We learn from them that Wagner has quit the contestants' house and moved to a North London hotel after complaining of "a funny smell." This from a man who used to own a pet lion and has been sniffing round a Tesco check-out girl. I'll tell you what the "funny smell" is Wagner - it's called cleanliness.

On the subject of everyone's favourite Brazilian zoo-keeper-cum-martial-artist-cum-global-singing-sensation, have you seen this Stephen Fry on Wagner mash-up video on YouTube? At the time of writing, 300,000 of you have. If you haven't, give it a try. Even if you read the Daily Mail: it's not nearly as unpleasant a viewing experience as the title leads you to believe.

Neither is it the only video of Wagner that's been causing a storm. The Sun has a clip supplied by an ex-co-worker, which shows Wagner wearing a high-visibility jacket and smoking weed. I know! What an idiot! You can't be a credible recording artist and be caught wearing luminous plastic clothing. Unless you're MC Hammer. And all this on the back of Wagner telling a friend in a phone conversation (which was, of course, recorded, and later supplied to The Sun) that the show "stinks". That'll be that "funny smell" he was complaining about.

Setting the journalistic pace in X Factor news this week though has been Galway Bay FM. In an interview with Tesco Mary, all rumours of a heavyweight love affair with Wagner were quashed.

Elsewhere in X Factor-ville, it's been anything but quiet. Katie "I'm a tortured artist" Weasel, a fortnight after being romantically attached to Storm Lee, has been reportedly caught in bed with show-favourite, Matt Cardle. Matt, clearly thinking Weasel herself was the source of the story, has furiously denied it, attacking Katie for "making stuff up". In a stunning development, however, News of the World's show-business editor, Dan Wootton, has Twittered that the story is true, but that his source wasn't Weasel. And who said that journalistic intrigue peaked with Watergate?

Other news in brief... In what is billed as Guilty Pleasures week, Wagner will be singing Relax. Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell go to the same barbers. Aiden is dating one of the show's dancers. Weasel collapsed in Topshop, but made a miraculous recovery (right after the story was reported in the Daily Mail). And Cheryl will be performing on Sunday's Results' Show. All up-to-date? Then it's time to turn my attention to another weasel plaguing my weekends - Mike Norman and this tipping "contest".

Norman thinks Paije will be eliminated this weekend. He won't. He thinks TreyC will win the Girls' group. She won't. He thinks One Direction will win the thing outright. They might, but let's hope not.

I'm happy with my positions on Matt and Aiden in the Winner market and, with the possible exception of the aforementioned One Direction, can't see another act winning it. The Girls' market is interesting though. It can only be a matter of time until the unpopular duo of Weasel and Cher get the boot and, in the remaining head-to-head, Rebecca has to have the edge over TreyC. I'm having £50 on the Scouse singer at [2.10] to win her category.

With still so many contestants - and so many of them absolute no-hopers - the elimination markets are fraught with difficulty. So I'm pleased Betfair has launched a Bottom Three option. In it, Wagner looks a very short price. I think he may have a few weeks left in the show and so am laying him for £70 at [1.70].

Betting bank running total = £670.

This week's recommendations:
£50 BACK Rebecca Ferguson at [2.10] in Girls' Market.
£70 LAY Wagner at [1.70] in Bottom Three Market.

Previous recommendations:
£70 BACK Matt Cardle at [5.1] in Outright Market - OPEN.
£70 BACK Aiden Grimshaw at [11.0] in Outright Market - OPEN.
£20 BACK Belle Amie at [30.0] in Outright Market - OPEN.
£30 BACK Cheryl Cole at [7.0] in First Mentor Eliminated Market - OPEN.
£50 BACK Matt Cardle at [5.4] in Outright Market - OPEN.
£50 BACK Aiden Grimshaw at [6.6] in Outright Market - OPEN.

£20 BACK FYD at [34.0] in Outright Market - LOST.
£10 BACK Katie Waissel at [6.6] in Third Elimination Market - LOST.
£10 BACK Cher Lloyd at [60.0] in Third Elimination Market - LOST.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

(1)

1. jim | 29 October 2010

   Jack

   Most entertaining.

   'It's called cleanliness'

   Splendid, keep up the good work.

   Goldie

:

:

:

?

: